Life With Team ZERO
by pikapika-angelic-demon-17
Summary: What happens after Ritsuka moves in with Soubi, Kio, and team ZERO? Natsuo and Youji get to cause more fun and chaos than ever before! Now they have everyone's full attention.
1. The Diary

**A/N: Yay! It's another RP! Angel wrote all of Soubi's parts, while Ezzy was everyone else. - This is Ezzy. I really had fun with this. Natsuo and Youji are two very obscure and hard-to-figure-out characters, but they're so cute and demonic! They're sometimes tough to write. I hope that ZERO fans enjoy this. We might actually write another part to this, if I get any ideas. I hope I do, because I'd hate for it to end here.**

_Welcome to our new home! This is Soubi's apartment! I'm Natsuo..._

... and I'm Youji. Every day, we get to sleep in late, eat all we want, and even irritate Soubi's best and most annoying friend, Kio.

But sometimes, things become a little more interesting...

Last week, Soubi's new Sacrifice Master, Ritsuka, moved in with us.

Now Soubi gets to stay at home more often!

So now what do we do?

Soubi stood before a canvas, thinking, while somewhat watching Ritsuka, who was sitting at a table finishing up his homework. _I'm supposed to paint a still life for class, but all I can think of is him..._

"Soubi, do you not have any ideas yet?" Ritsuka wondered aloud.

"I'm not verygood at still life, so no." _His face is so adorable... And his bright eyes..._

"Well, maybe..." Ritsuka's eyes wandered around the vicinity. "What about the paint cans? That might be interesting. Or the living room, just behind you? It looks simple at first, with just a sofa and a table, but really a lot of detail goes into making it look realistic. That's what a still-life is all about, right?"

"Yes, that's what we're being graded on..." _But I only want to paint you, Ritsuka..._

"Well, pick something!" Ritsuka finalized almost impatiently. "I'm doing _my_ homework, and I don't want you to get a bad grade just because still-life doesn't inspire you. We've been doing that now and then in my classes, too, and I hate it. But it's just an assignment. So finish it and then do what you really want to do."

"What if I told you the only thing that I want to paint is you...?"

Ritsuka turned pink and stared at him in shock. "Why don't you just... paint the living room..." he offerred, "and I suppose when you get it graded and returned, you can paint me on the couch..."

"Fine.." He forfeited and went off in search of paint colors.

Then Natsuo went running after Youji down the hall, thudding past Ritsuka and then Soubi. "Come back here!" Natsuo giggled. "Put that down!"

"What is that?" Soubi asked, walking back into the room holding a palette.

"My diary!" Natsuo shreiked. He tackled Youji into submission and bound him in a limb-lock on his back before flipping through the pages of the beloved transcript.

"You should hide it better.. He hasn't found mine yet." Soubi smiled.

"You've got no reason to have a diary!" Youji protested to Natsuo. "You have _me_!"

Soubi ignored the fight. _Kio will be home any minute. He'll break it up._

"Could you perhaps relax a bit?" Ritsuka requested of the ZERO team. "Soubi and I are both doing homework..."

"Yes... not to mention you're in the way of my work."

Natsuo "hmph"-ed and stood up, picking up Youji with him, and made his way back to Kio's room.

"That's better."Soubi continued to mix paints.

A long string of names and curses were shreiked from both sides of the battle in Kio's bedroom and the sound permeated the rest of the apartment as though it would splinter the wood.

"Wonder who will go first..." Soubi said, not completely serious.

Ritsuka was silent again for several more minutes while the fight continued. Then he turned to Soubi. "You keep a diary?"

"Uh... yes, I do. It's mostly of my dreams though."

"A dream diary...?" Ritsuka kept on doing his homework, a thoughtful look on his face.

Kio unlocked the door and entered. "I'm home!" he called, taking off his shoes and stepping up onto the wood floor in his socks. "Hi, Sou-chan," he greeted Soubi as he walked past and headed for his bedroom. When he opened the door, a book flew out and hit him in the nose, then the door slammed shut again. "Owww..." he whined, rubbing his face. "What was that?"

"The two ZEROs are fighting."

Kio looked at the book that was now in his hands. "A diary?"

"Yeah, its Natsuo's... That's what they were fighting over."

Kio flipped through the pages. "It's all about- ..."

Youji came out of the room shouting, "I'm telling you, it's pointless to use such a thing when we are to share everything anyway. So what reason could you possibly have for keeping it?"

Natsuo ran out, screaming angrily, and barrelled Youji over as he chased down Kio and snatched the text away from him. "This is _mine_! That's why!"

Kio's expression piqued Soubi's curiousity. "It's all about what?"

The arguing Fighter and Sacrifice drowned out any hope of Kio finishing his sentence. "This is _my_ recording of _my_ private thoughts, and it is all that I have to keep to _my_self! You share everything else with me! _Everything!_ So I need this, because I need to have something that belongs to me, and only me! You own _me_, as I am your Fighter, after all!"

"But, Natsuo, we're _supposed_ to share everything! We're a team!" Youji protested.

"Then why can't you share me with _ME_?"

Soubi forfeited, knowing that he and Ritsuka both couldn't finish their homework with this fight going on. He set his palette down on the coffee table and approached the quarrelling kittens cautiously. "Youji, why is is so difficult to let Natsuo have something to himself?"

"Because," Youji confessed, "that would weaken our bond. As Fighter and Sacrifice, our bonds must be as strong as possible so that we are as strong as we can be. You should understand that." He looked towards Soubi. "But you wouldn't. You and your Sacrifice don't even share the same _name_."

Soubi's eye's narrowed slightly. "Ritsuka and I our bound by something deeper than names. And as I recall, we defeated you, different names and all."

"That's _not_ what this is about!" Natsuo protested.

"I wasn't the one who brought it up..."

"But you were!" Natsuo cried. "You were the one who brought our losses into this! Well, now Youji's going to argue even more that our bonds aren't strong enough..."

"That's right!" agreed Youji. "And that loss is how I know! That's how I know we're not in sync. You've been keeping this from me the whole time! It's what makes us different. And that won't make us any more powerful."

"Maybe you're too close... Maybe that's why Ritsuka and I are so strong, because we have our differences, and we respect each other's differences. When we overcome that, we're stronger because of it."

"Please, Youji," Natsuo begged. "I just want this one thing... One part of me, to be only mine..." The paths of tears left shimmering streaks down his face.

Youji stared down at his partner. _Natsuo really wants this... I've never seen him cry before..._ "All right..." Youji finally agreed. "Keep it. Maybe... Maybe Soubi's right."

Natsuo looked up at the green-haired boy and slowly smiled. "... Yeah..." Youji helped Natsuo up, and Natsuo carried his diary close to his chest. They walked back down the hall, together, to Kio's room, which was where they always went when they needed some time alone. Kio, who always needed some type of attention, normally preferred to loll around on the couch, so his room was usually empty. As the ZEROs entered the room, Youji leading Natsuo by their linked hands, Youji pulled the door shut.

"So what was in the diary?" Soubi finally got to ask.

Kio looked back up to Soubi. "Everything in there was about Youji."

**A/N: Now, then, after this was completed, Angel asked me just what was in the diary. The answer is: EVERYTHING. Everything about Youji that Natsuo has ever seen or heard is written in that book. Youji and Natsuo are always together, every day, doing the same things, thinking and feeling the same things. So the only thing that Natsuo could have or experience to keep to himself is the things that make him andYouji different. It could be the way Youji looks, the way he talks, the way he acts and how he shows himself to the world, the things that make him angry or excited, even the way he eats and his simplest mannerisms. So basically, it would be a list of things that make Youji different from Natsuo that would seem almost obsessive to any other person's standards. I really enjoyed this idea. If other people like this fic, too, and leave reviews, then maybe it will be that much sooner that we can write another chapter.**


	2. Dinner

DISCLAIMER- I do not own Loveless, and neither does my friend who co-wrote this fic with me, cause if we did, I would have messed up the plot, majorly.. Don't try to sue me, I don't have anything to give, except for my large pocketlint collection. yep that's about it.. Enjoy! Oh and please Review, I truely enjoy the comments. They brighten up my day, even if they're short. Thanks!

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_It's dinner time in Soubi's apartment promptly at 6:00 every evening..._

_When he's here, anyway..._

_Which, now, is most of the time._

_I'm Natsuo..._

_... And I'm Youji._

_Welcome to another day with us..._

Soubi always cooked, even when the boys attempted to make dinner, because something always went wrong. Tonight, Youji planned to make something splendid, much to the disappointment of the wiser ones. Natsuo had come to help.

While they were in the kitchen, Soubi sketched and waited for Kio to return from the grocery store with fresh ingredients for Soubi. Ritsuka was in Soubi's room, reading.

"Don't destroy everything in there... I still need something to make dinner with," he warned the two.

"Yes, Soubi-san!" Natsuo and Youji called out simultaneously.

The blonde studied the paper in his hands and was content with the picture. He left it on the table and went to his room, to find his "inspiration."

Ritsuka heard, with his sensitive ears, the heavy, gentle padding of footsteps, and glanced to the doorway.

Blue eyes met violet, bringing a warm smile to Soubi's face, "Is that book good?" he said, sitting down next to him.

"It's..." Ritsuka stuck a bookmark into the thick text, another psychology book, and set it aside. "... interesting."

The older man continued watching him, "Do you enjoy reading it?"

"I suppose. I wanted to learn, and I am... Actually, it's rather dull," Ritsuka admitted.

"...Then why do you read it if you don't enjoy it? Wouldn't you rather do something fun?" he asked, slightly puzzled.

Ritsuka stared curiously at the space on the bed near the book, his ears beginning to fold. "It used to be fun. But I guess I'm just not interested anymore in who I used to be or how I got this way - but who I am now." After a moment of silence, the boy looked towards Soubi's face. "I'm not sure I know what fun even _is_ anymore. _Fun_ has changed."

"It tends to do that as you grow older... If you want, I can show you how _adults_ have fun…" His voice hinted at something underlying.

Ritsuka blushed lightly, unsure of his elder's meaning. "Soubi... not now," he said with a disapproving face. "We'll miss dinner..."

He smiled again, "Alright, I'll show you later…"

The screams of the other boys could be heard from the kitchen at this time, accompanied by the clatter of pans.

The blonde jumped, startled by the noise, and rushed out to see what they had done. "What did you do now?"

"Nothing," Natsuo and Youji called good-naturedly, preceding a fit of giggles.

Soubi rolled his eyes and entered the kitchen, inspecting the damage on his own.

Youji, whose face and hair were dusted with flour, laughed as he picked up a pan off the floor. "What are you doing?" Natsuo demanded of Soubi, appearing in front of the doorway. "Youji told you already; we're making dinner!" and the smaller boy pushed Soubi away.

The blonde frowned, annoyed, and went back out to his room, "Mess up my kitchen and you'll find yourself without a home."

Once Soubi had left, Natsuo stuck out his tongue at the blonde man. Youji slipped on some spilled flour and fell.

Soubi lied back down on the bed next to Ritsuka. "I don't think well be having dinner for a while. Youji and Natsuo are demolishing the kitchen."

"I expected such," Ritsuka sighed dismally, reaching for the textbook again.

"I thought you didn't find that fun?"

The younger boy stopped and gently pulled his hand back. "I guess not..."

The older blonde thought a moment, then went to his closet, pulling down an old notebook and a small box, "Here, this was my sketch book when I was younger, and here's some artist pencils. You might find this to be fun."

Ritsuka gasped quietly as his eyes widened. Of course, Soubi would have a sketchbook, why not? But... why share it with him? _Am I really that important to him?_ He graciously and gingerly took the items in his hands, sitting up on the bed on his knees, and then carried them back again to lay them in front of him. Slowly, he began to flip though pages upon pages of fantastical sketches, one after another...

Soubi just watched the young boy admire the gift. "I only used about half of the book, so feel free to draw in the blank pages."

That moment, Ritsuka touched the first blank page, and his head turned, dark eyes staring, to Soubi. "... Thank you," he said quietly. Then he leaned forward to embrace the elder, before he could second-guess himself as to whether he should.

Though suprised at first, Soubi returned the touch with compassion and warmth. "You're welcome, my Ritsuka.."

It was for some time that the two remained there, as Ritsuka sketched and Soubi observed and gave tips now and then, until Kio returned from the grocery.

Soubi remained still, so as not to complicate Ritsuka's drawing, and wait for the earring-ed teen to come to him.

"Souuu-chaaan..." Kio called, the crinkling of plastic bags audible though the apartment. The soft thud could be heard as the bags were set on the table. Then came the shuffling of big feet towards Soubi's room as that of small feet passed and faded, accompanied by some crinkling and giggling. "I brought your groceries," Kio said, peeking into the room with a bespectacled smile.

"And the two demon-children are getting into them," Soubi mumbled, not moving anything except his mouth.

"What?" Kio turned his head to find the table bare behind him. "Hey!" he shouted in a moment of realization as he dove down the hall towards the kitchen. "Those are Sou-chan's! Those are for real food!"

Soubi couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

Then seemed to ensue a lot of shuffling, grunting, and giggling, until Natsuo and Youji appeared grinning victoriously in the doorway, saying, "Dinner's ready!"

Soubi turned a questioning eye to Ritsuka, silently wondering if it was alright to move.

Youji and Natsuo giggled as they ran back down the hall to dish the food. Ritsuka glanced questioningly at Soubi, then cautiously climbed off the bed so as not to disturb the art supplies.

The elder artist followed, to inspect his kitchen and the ediblity of the "food" that was prepared.

The table had been set with plates, silverware, napkins, and glasses... just as it should have been. On the plates laid an arrangement of meaty-looking dumpling-like things and rice, as well as a small bowl of salad with ginger dressing. What was recognizable was fairly appetizing; what was unrecognizable - the dumpling-things - was rather tasty-smelling.

"What are these made out of?" Soubi pointed to the round globs of meat.

"It's chicken," said Natsuo matter-of-factly.

"Just eat it," Youji echoed.

"You'll like it," Natsuo coaxed.

Arching an eyebrow, he said, "You eat it first.."

"But it's a surprise!" the boys whined in tandem.

"I'm not going to die of food poisoning for your enjoyment... Kio you try it first."

Kio sat down. He didn't trust those kids, but this stuff _did_ smell awfully good... He sliced off a piece and took a bite, proceeding to chew it slowly. "Hmm... It's good..." The ZERO boys stared up at Soubi, large eyes begging for approval.

Soubi tried a piece of the mystery meat. It didn't taste bad, but he couldn't decipher the ingredients besides the chicken. "What else is in here?"

Ritsuka also sat down to eat it. As he chewed, he looked up to them. "Apples?" They smiled and nodded.

_Apples… That was it…_ Soubi continued eating the food, but wondered why the two zeros weren't. "Don't you want some of your own cooking?"

They leaned toward him. "Don't you like it...?"

"It's fine, but I wouldn't want to eat all of your food if you haven't had some.." Their unwillingness to try the food raised his suspicion.

Youji and Natsuo crouched on the floor on either side of Soubi's chair. "We can't eat until we know you like it," Youji said.

"Otherwise," said Natsuo, "we've failed as cooks and don't deserve to have dinner tonight for wasting your ingredients."

"It's fine. Now you try..." He pushed the plate towards Youji.

He and Natsuo both turned away and sat on the floor, crossing their arms stubbornly. "Why don't you trust us?" they asked.

The artist's face faded from partially nice to not amused, "I do trust you. I just want you to try it so you know how good it is..."

It seemed the praise the boys expected would not come. So they stood and walked around the table on opposite sides to sit down and eat from their own plates.

Stubbornly, Soubi waited to continue eating until the two had tried it.

The two boys ate shamefully, looking only at the plate as they placed meager pieces on their tongues. It had no flavor without Soubi's praise...

A twinge of guilt came at the look of sorrow on their face. Soubi knew that if he looked at Ritsuka right now, he was probably being scolded. _...Darn... I thought they weren't eating it because they did something to it, but they just wanted to impress me._

"Can you two not taste it? It's good, but you two don't seem to be enjoying it."

"We like it all right," said Youji.

Natsuo picked at a piece. "But it's pointless if you don't like it. Because you always cook such wonderful things for us."

"I do like it... I'm just not good at saying what I like sometimes. I'm sorry..." He ate another piece.

"You're good at saying it to me," Ritsuka mumbled.

"That's different, Ritsuka..." Soubi thought quickly of how to fix the situation. Finding none that didn't make him look like a fool, he retreated. "Youji, Natsuo... Thank you for dinner, it was nice... You two should cook again, sometime." He took his plate and went to the kitchen to clean up.

_Well..._

_I guess that was appreciation enough..._


End file.
